Ruti Aga has spent years proving herself on some of the biggest stages in distance running. The Ethiopian runner went from winning medals as a young 5,000m athlete to becoming a World Marathon Major champion, with the biggest win of her career coming at the 2019 Tokyo Marathon. She also ran a 2:18:09 personal best in 2023. But now, after years of success, Aga is facing a very different moment in her career.

On September 17, the Athletics Integrity Unit provisionally suspended Aga over the presence or use of methylprednisolone, a prohibited substance, along with a tampering charge. The provisional suspension means she is temporarily unable to compete while the case goes through the anti-doping process. Importantly, the AIU’s announcement is a provisional action and notice of charge, not a final finding that Aga committed an anti-doping rule violation.

The specific details of the tampering allegation have not been publicly explained. If both allegations are ultimately proven, Aga could face more than four years and potentially up to eight years. However, the news is also a major blow for Ethiopia, a country that has produced generations of world-class distance runners. Aga has been one of the familiar names in that group for more than a decade.

Aga’s story began on the track before the marathon became her main event. At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Barcelona, she finished second in the 5,000m, running 15:32.95 to take the silver medal. A year later, she went one step further by winning gold in the 5,000m at the African Junior Championships. Her biggest breakthrough came in Tokyo in March 2019.

Aga went into the Tokyo Marathon with a 2:18:34 personal best and stayed among the leaders as the race unfolded.The victory was a huge moment for Aga after several years of coming close at major marathons. But later that same year, she experienced one of the tougher moments of her career when she competed in the World Championships marathon in Doha. The extreme heat and humidity made conditions difficult for the field, and Aga did not finish the race.

She still ran the biggest marathons, however, and her times continued to improve. World Athletics lists 2:18:09 as Aga’s marathon personal best, which she ran in Dongying, China, in 2023. Aga then got the second-best 2:18:09 behind another Ethiopian, Tigist Ketema, in Dubai in January 2024.

Later that year, she won another marathon in her résumé in Daegu in 2:21:07. Yet another good performance in January 2025. Aga crossed the finish line to win the Xiamen Marathon in 2:18:46 with a course record. Now, that career has been put on hold.

Interestingly, the latest development comes at a difficult time for Ethiopian distance running.

Another Ethiopian marathoner faces suspension

Ethiopian 24-year-old Tiruye Mesfin was banned for three years in September after an abnormality was detected in her Athlete Biological Passport. A panel of experts identified that there was a high probability of a prohibited substance being present. But later, Mesfin accepted the sanction.

Her original ban was to be four years, but was shortened to one year because of her early admission. Results from June 25, 2025, were disqualified, and the three-year ban from eligibility started Aug. 10, 2026. Interestingly, Mesfin was one of Ethiopia’s young stars in the marathon, his personal best time of 2:18:35 and fifth at the Seoul Marathon in March 2026 in 2:20:45.

The case of her, however, is different than Aga’s. Mesfin’s disqualification came in the wake of the Athlete Biological Passport scandal, while Aga’s has been provisional after her use of methylprednisolone and another allegation of tampering.